The present invention relates to cooking ovens. More particularly, the field of the present invention is that of grease splatter capture shields for use in impingement and other ovens.
Impingement ovens provide accelerated cooking times in many applications. In the operation of an impingement oven, columnated jets of hot air or steam are directed at food items and transfer heat at a much greater rate than in convection ovens. Impingement oven systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,626,661 and 4,438,572, which are explicitly incorporated by reference herein.
One problem with oven cooking involves grease and fat in food items being cooked. For example, chickens have fat which renders out during cooking. As the jets of hot air flow over the chicken in an impingement oven, fat vaporizes and is carried away from the baking pan. Usually something blister pops, or a similar occurs, and the fat spatters into the cooking chamber to be carried by various air flows. The air with vaporized fat then circulates around the oven and deposits the fat, thereby severely soiling the interior of the oven. This problem is exacerbated by a grill rack which compresses the chicken to improve its cooking, because the internal vapor pressure and moisture pressure developed by the grill rack causes additional splatter.
Some attempts to solve this problem involved enveloping the pan, grill, and food product to contain the grease. These attempts fail because they effectively stop the impingement air flow and increase cooking time
Also, grease extractors are known for ventilator hoods in laboratories, but such extractors rely on high velocities of air movement. For impingement ovens, grease moves at a relatively low velocity as it comes off the food product and forms deposits on the oven interior before being drawn through the air recirculation system.
Another problem with impingement ovens involves the basting of items such as chickens. A significant amount of the chicken's natural moisture is vaporized and carried away in the air flow. Sometimes, the chicken will be aesthetically unpleasing because it has dried out during its cooking in the impingement oven. At other times, the chicken is not dried but may lack the full flavor of a chicken baked and basted in a conventional oven.
One object of the present invention is to provide a splatter capture shield which prevents the escape of fat and grease into the oven interior while still allowing the jets of air to cook the food item.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a splatter capture shield which self-bastes the food item.